Origin of Darth Aeronwen
by LadyAeronwen
Summary: A simple job that should have been fast and easy, until something began slaughtering her cargo...


She was a young smuggler from the Outer Rim, and she avoided taking sides in the Galactic war. She was happy to stay neutral and away from the core systems, but couldn't pass up the opportunity to help a group of slaves off of an Imperial run outpost. 

But something wasn't right. Why are they running away? Over the screaming, the fear in the air, the wind howling, and the grinding of machinery as the hangar hatch opened, no one could hear her yelling to board the ship. Beings of all kinds scattered the moment that they could, fleeing from something. She watched as they bolted, tripped, shoved, and fought to put distance between themselves and some unseen enemy. The slavers are dead... WHY are they running?! Her eyes scanned the faces as they ran, only catching glimpses of them in the fiery red lights of the landing pad. She knew fear. She had experienced fear. And that's all that she could see. 

Typically, she would remain on her ship, only going as far as the end of her ramp while cargo was loaded. Things were different this time. The moment that she felt her stomach drop, she had bolted outside and placed herself behind one of the landing gear legs of her beloved Amethyst Queen, her hand resting on her blaster. Whether or not that was a good idea had not immediately occurred to her. 

Aeronwen wasn't always so fueled by hatred and anger. She learned it through pain and suffering. She went to that moon a naive smuggler who still believed that the galaxy need not be such a scary place. She didn't intend to ever even let the pain of her absent family come to her mind as the crimson beam emerged from the chest of a fallen slave. Why was she so terrified now? She could leave, her ship was right there, her hands on the controls. Just leave the moon behind. This was something that was beyond her knowledge. She had heard the terms "lightsaber", "Jedi", and "Sith", but had never encountered any of those things. She couldn't escape the thoughts now. So much sadness and pain, but hidden from him. Locked away where only she would have to deal with it, but doubt seized her shaking hands. She won't leave, won't run... she had spent too long running. 

The black robed figure that finally took form in the hangar was larger than an average man by far. Steam rose from every inch of it... Like some smoldering void in the very moon itself. The crimson blade, still independent of its master's hand, again spun like a buzz saw cutting down three more slaves. The lightsaber moved as if it itself were somehow alive. 

Eidren, once known as Galen Athos... A human child, whose eyes were said to be able to see into the very minds and souls of those around him. It wasn't just his eyes though, was it, he had immense potential in the ways of the Force. 

On that day, his mind was clear, cutting down the slaves... Then he felt it. A flickering of emotion from the vessel he saw before him. Even with the metallic snow falling heavy and fast, he still commanded his saber with less than a thought; it hummed through the air, execution upon delivery. The Sith Lord, slowing to savor the moment, had already forgotten his previous mission; his saber returned to his outstretched hand, before the last body fell to the ground, lifeless.

"Can you feel me, inside of you, that voice in the back of your mind. That urge to run, but not away... Come out, there is no one here, but us." 

She stood there nervously, shifting her weight from one foot to the other. She could feel him. Although she stood in the cold, hilariously under dressed for the weather, her boots crunching in the snow at the base of her ramp, it wasn't the cold that sent the shiver down her spine. The snow crunched under her boots as she took a few steps forward. The hand resting on her blaster tightened its grip and pulled the weapon from its holster, pointing it at the figure. Her heart pounded in her chest, her voice almost cracking as she yelled, "What are you?! " 

"Do you carry that because you think it can save you, or because it makes you feel safe?" The voice was still in her mind, but he hadn't advanced any further. 

"You say that as if you're invincible. Answer my question!" Though her heart pounded unmercifully at her chest, her hand remained steady. Did he want the Amethyst Queen? Did he want to kill her? Hoping to hide her fear, she took a few more steps forward, planting herself firmly between the figure and her ship. 

He continued to leave her in intentional suspense; the temperature was dropping, but she wouldn't dare move. 

"I can just as easily take that from you, as I could answer your question." He aimed the emitter of his Saber towards the ground. "I could also just as easily sever your pretty face, from your well formed body... Yet, that would be such as shameful waste." His Crimson Blade hissed to life once more, the torrent of unnatural wind rose up, before his words reached her earshot. 

She visibly jumped at the sight of the blade emerging, and braced herself against the wind, raising one arm to shield her eyes from the stinging snow. She took another few steps forward, keeping her blaster pointed even as she stumbled against the wind and fell to her knees. Her teeth chattered and her extremities had long since gone past the point of aching in the bitter cold, and gone numb altogether, but still, she held her blaster straight, and yelled again, "Answer me!" 

"Why?" He slowly advanced once more, slow and sure in his stride... "What does it matter, what I am; the dead don't have use for knowledge, but the Sith do." 

The cold burned her chest from the inside out, cracking her voice. Her blaster held steady, never straying from her target. "You'll kill me? Just like you killed them? I was giving them a new life!" 

"Yet, in doing so, you condemned yourself. Peace is a lie, there is only passion." His outstretched hand grasped her throat, but he was still easily a hundred feet away. "What you're feeling is power, and through such power one can do anything... Even become invincible." His hand tightening slowly on her throat, but it was clear he wasn't ready to let her take her final breath.

Her eyes widened at the sensation around her throat. This wasn't possible, how was he doing this?! Her free hand grasped at her throat. Her eyes burned in the cold, her body screamed, but she didn't dare try to stand yet. She clenched her jaw, her hand gripping the blaster starting to shake. "No... that's impossible. You're lying." 

"If I'm lying, then strike me down..." He released his hold and let her fall to the ground. "I'll not keep my patience forever." He used his blade to cut into the ground before her. 

She gasped and scrambled to her feet, only to fall back onto her knees. She hadn't planned on leaving the ship, and her lack was proper clothing on a frozen planet was foolish. She half wondered if she would even have toes, if she lived through this. Both hands gripped the blaster, and aimed at him, her finger positioning itself on the trigger. Something tugged on her mind, almost urging her to not do it... don't squeeze the trigger... but she did. Unable to take the wind burning her eyes, she closed them and turned her head, squeezing the trigger as she aimed for his chest. 

His outstretched hand caught the blast, but it left little more than a smoldering mark. "What do you desire?" 

Despite firing at him, she still heard his voice. She opened her eyes wide and stared at him, lost for words. The blaster fell from her hands, her arms falling to her lap. "H-...how? How is that possible... ?!" 

His approach finally reached its end. He didn't continue to speak, but instead placed his Saber on his belt, knelt and scooped the girl into his arms. His heavy cloak falling close around her. 

"We're leaving."


End file.
